Second half of the 19th century – first half of the 20th century
Aluminium
The area to the east and southeast of the Grand Dukes Palace of Lithuania remained sparsely built for a long time. After the 1830 uprising, a Tsarist Vilnius fortress was established here; it was later dismantled, and the area was redesigned as Pilies Square – a recreational space for city residents.
During archaeological excavations conducted in 2004–2006 at this location, six upper tear-off parts of beer bottle caps were found among other artifacts. These finds suggest that in the late 19th – early 20th century, the park may have been a place where kefir, milk, mineral water, and beer were sold.
Such caps began to be produced in the late 19th century and became popular around 1910. The impressions on the tops of these caps indicate that they sealed bottles containing beer produced at the I. Lipskis and V. Šopen breweries. In the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, these breweries were the largest in Vilnius, each producing about a million buckets of beer (one bucket = 12.99 liters).
Information prepared by Justina Ramanauskienė
